Uncategorised Archives - The TCx3 Collection

11 - Willett’s Nipple

Unique ID: 11

Technical details

DataDescriptionProvenanceReferences

Denomination	Quarter Stater	Metal	Gold
Area	Britain	Region	Southern
Issuing Authority	Regini	Issuer	Unknown
Weight	1.45g	Diameter	11mm
Rarity	Very Rare (16 to 30)	Date	70 BC to 55 BC (see note about dating)

Obverse Legend	No Legend
Reverse Legend	No Legend
Obverse Description	Blank apart from a nipple. Possible hints of a pattern at the edges. It is thought that this is the obverse die used for the British Ad2 Geometric quarters (see 49, 105, 106, and 108) but there doesn’t appear to be any real evidence for this.
Reverse Description	Female figure sitting at the bottom of the image, with horizontal flower (with stem and roots) above, and a cloudscape above and to the left.

Bt. 2017 from Silbury Coins (reference JC668)

ABC	ABC 536. Willett’s Nipple
Divided Kingdoms	DK 139. British Ad2 Class 4 – Nipple
Van Arsdell	VA 1229-01. Durotrigan A – Early Geometric Type
Spink	S 46. Geometric Type

The Willett’s Nipple quarter staters are thought to be one of the earliest British coins. The obverse is blank apart from a nipple. There are four reverse dies, three of which have no discernable design, and can best be described as being composed of random marks. This coin is from the fourth die which has three main features. The first is a cloud like formation which appears at the top of the coin, and wraps around the left side to the bottom edge. The second is a thin horizontal like with “feathering” at the right hand side, and with an elongated pellet at the right, with two small spikes and two crescent “pincers”. The overall impression is of a flower with a stem and roots turned on its side. The third feature appears at the bottom of the coin and resembles a seated female figure, although it’s unknown if that’s what it was intended to be.

118 - Duro Boat Bird

Unique ID: 118

Technical details

DataDescriptionProvenanceReferences

Denomination	Quarter Stater	Metal	Silver
Area	Britain	Region	South Western
Issuing Authority	Durotriges	Issuer	Unknown
Weight	1.19g	Diameter	12.11mm
Rarity	Common (101 to 200)	Date	50 BC to 20 BC (see note about dating)

Obverse Legend	No Legend
Reverse Legend	No Legend
Obverse Description	The obverse shows a boat with two figures. An S shaped object appears on the right, and the remains of a pellet ring on the left. The obverse is sometimes rotated 180 degrees and described as a stylised animal (normally a boar but sometimes a wolf), but the arguments for this are unconvincing and the text required to describe the design as a boar or other abstract animal becomes increasingly convoluted. A possible interpretation of the boat and its passengers was presented by Daphne Nash Briggs in "Reading the images on lron-Age coins: I. the sun-boat and its passengers".
Reverse Description	A zig-zag line (sometimes called a thunderbolt) runs vertically with Y shaped objects in the lower left and upper right fields. A bird shaped object appears in the lower right field. The upper left field contains an unidentified L shaped object. Note that the intended orientation on the reverse is unknown. It is traditionally shown with the zig-zag line as vertical, but as this is derived from the GB-Ca2 quarter staters, it should probably be shown with that line horizontal.

Bt. The Numismatic Collector’s Series e-Auction lot 22. 1st of February 2021

Ex. Chris Rudd list 142, lot 26. 7th of September 2015

Found near Vindocladia (‘white ditches’), Dorset, in 1980s

ABC	ABC 2208. Duro Boat Bird
Van Arsdell	VA 1242-01. Durotrigan E – Late Geometric Type
Spink	S 368. Geometric Type

The Duro Boat Gold and the Duro Boat Bird quarter staters were minted by the Durotriges around 80-50 BC and 50-20 BC respectively. They are a continuation of the boat and geometric theme started by the Morini tribe with their GB-Ca2 and GB-D quarter staters. The Durotriges started minting these coins in gold but transitioned to silver as their gold stocks ran out.

This is one of eight in the collection (see 1, 9, 13, 15, 99, 100, and 110).

8 - Duro Boat Gold

Unique ID: 8

Technical details

DataDescriptionProvenanceReferences

Denomination	Quarter Stater	Metal	Gold
Area	Britain	Region	South Western
Issuing Authority	Durotriges	Issuer	Unknown
Weight	1.43g	Diameter	11mm
Rarity	Scarce (51 to 100)	Date	70 BC to 55 BC (see note about dating)

Obverse Legend	No Legend
Reverse Legend	No Legend
Obverse Description	The obverse shows a boat with two figures. An S shaped object appears on the right, and the remains of a pellet ring on the left. The obverse is sometimes rotated 180 degrees and described as a stylised animal (normally a boar but sometimes a wolf), but the arguments for this are unconvincing and the text required to describe the design as a boar or other abstract animal becomes increasingly convoluted. A possible interpretation of the boat and its passengers was presented by Daphne Nash Briggs in "Reading the images on lron-Age coins: I. the sun-boat and its passengers".
Reverse Description	A zig-zag line (sometimes called a thunderbolt) runs vertically with Y shaped objects in the lower left and upper right fields. A bird shaped object appears in the lower right field. The upper left field contains an unidentified L shaped object. Note that the intended orientation on the reverse is unknown. It is traditionally shown with the zig-zag line as vertical, but as this is derived from the GB-Ca2 quarter staters it should probably be shown with that line horizontal.

Roma Numismatics E-Sale 38, Lot 19 (2017)

CCI 84.0424 (PAS, CCI)

Found in the 1983 Shapwick Hoard (“Coin Hoards in Iron Age Britain” by Philip de Jersey). This is one of the coins recorded by Melinda Mays

ABC	ABC 2205. Duro Boat Gold
Van Arsdell	VA 1225-01. Durotrigan A – Early Geometric Type

This is one of seven in the collection (see 7, 12, 16, 42, 51, and 112).

Note that despite being a “Scarce” coin (51 to 100 known), it is not listed in Spink’s “Coins of England and The United Kingdom: Standard Catalogue of British Coins” book. The number normally given is S.368 but the book is quite clear that is for the silver coins only.

92 - Great Waltham Curved Neck

Unique ID: 92

Technical details

DataDescriptionProvenanceReferences

Denomination	Stater	Metal	Gold
Area	Britain	Region	North East Thames
Issuing Authority	Catuvellauni	Issuer	Unknown
Weight	6.5g	Diameter	20.42mm
Rarity	Scarce (51 to 100)	Date	55 BC to 54 BC (see note about dating)

Obverse Legend	No Legend
Reverse Legend	No Legend
Obverse Description	The obverse shows a very abstracted rendering of Apollo’s head ultimately derived from the Philippus. It mainly comprises of a wreath and hairlocks, bisected by a hair bar. The hollow crescents on the right are hair curls, and the “blob” shaped object in front is all that remains of Apollo’s face.
Reverse Description	The reverse shows the remnants of the horse drawn biga and Charioteer from the Philippus. The horse faces left, and has a curved neck, making it distinct from the earlier class 1 staters where the horse had a straight neck. The horse has a distinctive “stacked saucers” appearance. There is a pellet field above the horse, and the area below the horse is mainly blank, probably because the coin was picked up with tongs while it was still hot. The chariot wheel from the biga is just visible on the right side.

Bt. Chris Rudd Liz’s List 107, number 32 (2020)

Chris Rudd Auction 167 Lot 24, October 2019

ABC	ABC 2430. Westerham North
Divided Kingdoms	DK 393. British Ab1 Class 3 – Great Waltham Curved Neck
Van Arsdell	VA 1453-01 (cf.). Trinovantian X – Westerham (Northern) Type
Spink	S 21 (cf.). Westerham Type

The Great Waltham Curved Neck stater stands at the end of a complicated sequence that derives from the British Aa1 staters (see 96). The sequence is:

British Ab1 Class 1
British Ac1 Class 2 (a and b) “Ingoldisthorpe”. Note Ac rather than Ab
British Ab1 Class 3. Note Ab again rather than Ac.

This intermingling of Ab and Ac occurs because some class 3 coins were struck with class 2 (Ac1) obverse dies, and some with class 2 (Ac1) reverse dies. This merging of dies is also seen in the corresponding quarters.

In terms of dating, “ABC” assigns it to the 80-50 BC range, and John Sills assigns it to around 55 BC to 54 BC in “Divided Kingdoms” (p713). Chris Rudd Ltd. assigns it to both the 75-65 BC range (Auction 167 Lot 24, October 2019) and c. 54 BC (Auction 165 Lot 27, June 2019).

John Sills’ theory is that the whole Ab/Ac series was minted for the second invasion of Britain in 54 BC. His reasoning is that the Ac staters copy features from GB-E class 4L staters (minted around 54 to 53 BC) and GB-D class 5 quarters (minted around 55 to 54 BC) so must be contemporary with, or postdate, that. He also argues that the coins in circulation north of the Thames (British Ab-c, F and G) were replaced by the British L coins, and he dates them to 53 BC and the immediate aftermath of the second invasion.

21 - Stippled

Unique ID: 21

Technical details

DataDescriptionProvenanceReferences

Denomination	Quarter Stater	Metal	Gold
Area	Britain	Region	South Western
Issuing Authority	Durotriges	Issuer	Unknown
Weight	1.51g	Diameter	11.5mm
Rarity	Rare (31 to 50)	Date	50 BC to 20 BC (see note about dating)

Obverse Legend	No Legend
Reverse Legend	No Legend
Obverse Description	The obverse shows a boat with two figures. An S shaped object appears on the right, and the remains of a pellet ring on the left. The obverse is sometimes rotated 180 degrees and described as a stylised animal (normally a boar but sometimes a wolf), but the arguments for this are unconvincing and the text required to describe the design as a boar or other abstract animal becomes increasingly convoluted. A possible interpretation of the boat and its passengers was presented by Daphne Nash Briggs in "Reading the images on lron-Age coins: I. the sun-boat and its passengers".
Reverse Description	A zig-zag line (sometimes called a thunderbolt) runs vertically with Y shaped objects in the lower left and upper right fields. The upper left quadrant is solid with a stippled finish. The upper part of the thunderbolt is not a separately defined object on this coin, but on others of the type it can clearly be seen as the edge of the stippled area. A bird shaped object appears in the lower right field. Note that the intended orientation on the reverse is unknown. It is traditionally shown with the zig-zag line as vertical, but as this is derived from the GB-Ca2 quarter staters, it should probably be shown with that line horizontal.

Bt. Roma Numismatics Auction E-Sale 40, Lot 3

Divided Kingdoms

DK 298. British Af2 – Stippled

The Stippled quarter staters have traditionally been considered to be die variations of the Duro Boat Gold and Duro Boat Bird quarter staters, but they are now considered to be a separate issue because they also begin in gold and end in silver while remaining typologically distinct from the Boat quarters. They are very similar to the Duro Boat Gold and Duro Boat Bird quarter staters with the exception that one quarter of the reverse is solid with a stippled finish.

It’s probable that they were also minted by the Durotriges at the same time as the Duro Boat Gold and Duro Boat Bird quarter staters.

This is one of three in the collection (see 19 and 119).

19 - Stippled

Unique ID: 19

Technical details

DataDescriptionProvenanceReferences

Denomination	Quarter Stater	Metal	Silver
Area	Britain	Region	South Western
Issuing Authority	Durotriges	Issuer	Unknown
Weight	1.21g	Diameter	12mm
Rarity	Rare (31 to 50)	Date	50 BC to 20 BC (see note about dating)

Obverse Legend	No Legend
Reverse Legend	No Legend
Obverse Description	The obverse shows a boat with two figures. An S shaped object appears on the right, and the remains of a pellet ring on the left. The obverse is sometimes rotated 180 degrees and described as a stylised animal (normally a boar but sometimes a wolf), but the arguments for this are unconvincing and the text required to describe the design as a boar or other abstract animal becomes increasingly convoluted. A possible interpretation of the boat and its passengers was presented by Daphne Nash Briggs in "Reading the images on lron-Age coins: I. the sun-boat and its passengers".
Reverse Description	A zig-zag line (sometimes called a thunderbolt) runs vertically with Y shaped objects in the lower left and upper right fields. The upper left quadrant is solid with a stippled finish. The upper part of the thunderbolt is not a separately defined object on this coin, but on others of the type it can clearly be seen as the edge of the stippled area. A bird shaped object appears in the lower right field. Note that the intended orientation on the reverse is unknown. It is traditionally shown with the zig-zag line as vertical, but as this is derived from the GB-Ca2 quarter staters, it should probably be shown with that line horizontal.

Bt. Ebay 2017. Item number 272889336082

Found 1999 in Winterborne Kingston / Bere Regis Dorset

Divided Kingdoms

DK 298. British Af2 – Stippled

It’s probable that they were also minted by the Durotriges at the same time as the Duro Boat Gold and Duro Boat Bird quarter staters.

This is one of three in the collection (see 21 and 119).

85 - Lyndsey Scyphate Reversed Type

Unique ID: 85

Technical details

DataDescriptionProvenanceReferences

Denomination	Quarter Stater	Metal	Gold
Area	Britain	Region	North Eastern
Issuing Authority	Corieltavi	Issuer	Unknown
Weight	1.46g	Diameter	13mm
Rarity	Extremely Rare (6 to 15)	Date	70 BC to 55 BC (see note about dating)

Obverse Legend	No Legend
Reverse Legend	No Legend
Obverse Description	The obverse shows the remains of a boat with two figures. The obverse is sometimes rotated 180 degrees and described as a stylised animal (normally a boar but sometimes a wolf), but the arguments for this are unconvincing and the text required to describe the design as a boar or other abstract animal becomes increasingly convoluted. A possible interpretation of the boat and its passengers was presented by Daphne Nash Briggs in "Reading the images on lron-Age coins: I. the sun-boat and its passengers".
Reverse Description	The reverse is dominated by a wavy horizontal line with a field of seven pellets above and perhaps six below, although the exact number isn’t exactly clear. There are two stacked crescents below.

Bt. CNG E Auction 460, Lot 1020. January 2020

ABC	ABC 1767. Lyndsey Scyphate Reversed Type

This is an early Lyndsey Scyphate quarter stater which appears to follow on from the Lincolnshire Boat Tree quarters (see 25 and 33). The design on the obverse is normally described as a stylised boar, but I have a great deal of trouble accepting that for several reasons:

The boar was revered as a creature of the night and only appears as the main motif on silver coins. It rarely appears on gold, and when it does, it is always a small auxiliary design
The Celts knew how to draw boars that looked like boars. It was the little things, like having the correct number of legs and putting them in the correct places. This doesn’t really look like a boar.
The coin is derived (one step removed) from Gallo-Belgic Ca2 Class 4 which was minted by the Morini and featured the standard “two men in a boat” motif. There are good arguments why a seafaring tribe (who are likely to have considered boats to be important) might have used a boat on their coins, but I’ve yet to hear any arguments put forth why they would have been the only tribe to use a badly drawn boar as the main image on gold

The design does become more boar like on later Lyndsey Scyphates, but I’m yet to be convinced it’s anything more than a boat with a figurehead. The Corieltavi used the boar extensively on their silver coins, and none of them look like this. They are all obviously boars even though they are highly abstract.

119 - Stippled

Unique ID: 119

Technical details

DataDescriptionProvenanceReferences

Denomination	Quarter Stater	Metal	Silver
Area	Britain	Region	South Western
Issuing Authority	Durotriges	Issuer	Unknown
Weight	1.12g	Diameter	11.97mm
Rarity	Rare (31 to 50)	Date	50 BC to 20 BC (see note about dating)

Obverse Legend	No Legend
Reverse Legend	No Legend
Obverse Description	The obverse shows a boat with two figures. An S shaped object appears on the right, and the remains of a pellet ring on the left. The obverse is sometimes rotated 180 degrees and described as a stylised animal (normally a boar but sometimes a wolf), but the arguments for this are unconvincing and the text required to describe the design as a boar or other abstract animal becomes increasingly convoluted. A possible interpretation of the boat and its passengers was presented by Daphne Nash Briggs in "Reading the images on lron-Age coins: I. the sun-boat and its passengers".
Reverse Description	A zig-zag line (sometimes called a thunderbolt) runs vertically with Y shaped objects in the lower left and upper right fields. The upper left quadrant is solid with a stippled finish. The upper part of the thunderbolt is not a separately defined object on this coin, but on others of the type it can clearly be seen as the edge of the stippled area. A bird shaped object appears in the lower right field. Note that the intended orientation on the reverse is unknown. It is traditionally shown with the zig-zag line as vertical, but as this is derived from the GB-Ca2 quarter staters, it should probably be shown with that line horizontal.

Bt. Chris Rudd Ltd. Liz’s List 111, number 26. February 2021. (Misattributed as ABC 2208)

Ex J. Tocchio Collection

Ex Chris Rudd Ltd. Liz’s List 86, number 31. December 2016

Divided Kingdoms

DK 298. British Af2 – Stippled

It’s probable that they were also minted by the Durotriges at the same time as the Duro Boat Gold and Duro Boat Bird quarter staters.

This is one of three in the collection (see 19 and 21).

61 - Ingoldisthorpe

Unique ID: 61

Technical details

DataDescriptionProvenanceReferences

Denomination	Quarter Stater	Metal	Gold
Area	Britain	Region	North Thames
Issuing Authority	Catuvellauni	Issuer	Unknown
Weight	1.28g	Diameter	10.69mm
Rarity	Extremely Rare (6 to 15)	Date	55 BC to 54 BC (see note about dating)

Obverse Legend	No Legend
Reverse Legend	No Legend
Obverse Description	The obverse shows a boat with three figures (not the normal two). Between the rightmost figures is a ringed pellet with a vertical line extending from it. The rightmost figure has small curved lines ending in pellets coming from the head and chest area, although the top one is missing on this coin. The leftmost figure has an elongated pellet behind it. Some scroll work is present below the boat. The obverse is sometimes rotated 180 degrees and described as a stylised animal (normally a boar but sometimes a wolf), but the arguments for this are unconvincing and the text required to describe the design as a boar or other abstract animal becomes increasingly convoluted. A possible interpretation of the boat and its passengers was presented by Daphne Nash Briggs in "Reading the images on lron-Age coins: I. the sun-boat and its passengers".
Reverse Description	The reverse is dominated by a comb like object with rays emanating from the top and right hand side. This is a variation of the anemone seen on GB-Ca2 quarters, the Tree seen on GB-D quarters, the Tophy seen on British P and British Le2 quarters, and the Bird seen on the Durotridges quarters. To the left is a tadpole shaped object with an L shape made from pellets. To the right is a wavy line. At the base of the comb is a think crooked line, and below that some scoll work and what looks like the tip of some pincers. Other coins show this to be an angled Y shape object touching a vertical line, as seen on GB-Ca2, GB-D, Insular Cf, etc, quarters.

Bt. Spink Auction 19004 Lot 920 2019

Ex. Spink ‘Celtic Coins from the Geoff Cottam Collection’ (Auction 15049 Lot 285) 2015

Ex. Geoff Cottam Collection

Ex. DNW, 28 September 2005, lot 130

PAS CAM-0C6F51

CCI 03.0685

Found near Welney and Christchurch, Cambridgeshire, October 2004

ABC	ABC 2448. Ingoldisthorpe
Divided Kingdoms	DK 399. British Ac2 Class 2 – Ingoldisthorpe

The Ingoldisthorpe quarter stands in the middle of a complicated sequence that derives from the British Aa2 Class 2 “Carn Brea” quarter (see 34 and 39). The sequence is:

British Ab2 Class 1 which is formed from both ABC 2451 (see 35) and 2454 (see 6 and 22)
British Ac2 Class 2 “Ingoldisthorpe”. Note Ac rather than Ab
British Ab2 Class 3 (see 80). Note Ab again rather than Ac.

This intermingling of Ab and Ac occurs because of a class 3 coin which was struck from a class 1 (Ab) reverse die and from a class 2 (Ac) obverse die. This merging of dies is also seen in the corresponding staters.

In terms of dating, “ABC” assigns it to the 80-50 BC range, and John Sills assigns it to around 55 BC to 54 BC in “Divided Kingdoms” (p713). John Sills’ theory is that the whole Ab/Ac series was minted for the second invasion of Britain in 54 BC. His reasoning is that the Ac staters copy features from GB-E class 4L staters (minted around 54 to 53 BC) and GB-D class 5 quarters (minted around 55 to 54 BC) so must be contemporary with, or postdate, that. He also argues that the coins in circulation north of the Thames (British Ab-c, F and G) were replaced by the British L coins, and he dates them to 53 BC and the immediate aftermath of the second invasion.

51 - Duro Boat Gold

Unique ID: 51

Technical details

DataDescriptionProvenanceReferences

Denomination	Quarter Stater	Metal	Gold
Area	Britain	Region	South Western
Issuing Authority	Durotriges	Issuer	Unknown
Weight	0.66g	Diameter	10.64mm
Rarity	Scarce (51 to 100)	Date	70 BC to 55 BC (see note about dating)

Obverse Legend	No Legend
Reverse Legend	No Legend
Obverse Description	The obverse shows a boat with two figures. The remains of a pellet ring on the left. The obverse has been triple struck, giving it a different appearance from normal. The obverse is sometimes rotated 180 degrees and described as a stylised animal (normally a boar but sometimes a wolf), but the arguments for this are unconvincing and the text required to describe the design as a boar or other abstract animal becomes increasingly convoluted. A possible interpretation of the boat and its passengers was presented by Daphne Nash Briggs in "Reading the images on lron-Age coins: I. the sun-boat and its passengers".
Reverse Description	A zig-zag line (sometimes called a thunderbolt) runs vertically with Y shaped objects in the lower left and upper right fields. A bird shaped object appears in the lower right field. The upper left field contains an unidentified L shaped object. Note that the intended orientation on the reverse is unknown. It is traditionally shown with the zig-zag line as vertical, but as this is derived from the GB-Ca2 quarter staters it should probably be shown with that line horizontal.

Bt. Ebay 2018. Item number 264051373999

ABC	ABC 2205. Duro Boat Gold
Van Arsdell	VA 1225-01. Durotrigan A – Early Geometric Type

The Duro Boat Gold quarter staters were minted by the Durotriges around 80-50 BC. They are a continuation of the boat and geometric theme started by the Morini tribe with their GB-Ca2 and GB-D quarter staters. Despite being only a fragment of a coin, I was attracted to this one because of the die break on the reverse. The curved line of the die break crosses a horizontal line, making an elongated S shape that ends with tendrils. This is exactly the same motif that appears on the Hampshire Thunderbolt quarter staters (see 2, 14, 28, 32, 37, 40, 43, 50, 117, 120, 122, and 123), and it makes me wonder if this broken reverse die was the inspiration for the new style reverses on those coins.

This is one of seven in the collection (see 7, 8, 12, 16, 42, and 112).